USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788-1912, Volume II > Part 46
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Another local company is also taking up the aeroplane industry, that of the Lanier & Driesbach Manufacturing Company. This company has imported an aeroplane from France and will conduct a selling agency and possibly manufac- ture the machines.
The Cincinnati Grinder Company is a new addition to the local machinery industry. The company is manufacturing a line of grinding machines which is an entirely new product for Cincinnati. The company is located at Colerain and Alabama avenues, Camp Washington. About thirty men are employed.
The Schneider & Goosman Machine Company, 1929 Race street, is also a new machine tool industry. This company manufactures a line of small planers.
CO.
DURING THE USEFUL DAYS OF THE MIAMI AND ERIE CANAL, 1903
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Other manufacturing companies which were organized locally last year, and now operating are as follows:
Sanitary Clothes Pressing Machinery Company, machinery for use in tailor- ing establishments, operating at 428 East Eighth street. Fred. M. Betz of the Ohio Laundry Machinery Company of Hamilton is president. Capital $50,000.
Elmwood Place Auto Top & Supply Company, manufacturing auto tops and accessories at 701 Main avenue, Elmwood Place.
Sultana Shoe Company, organized by John Duttenhofer and others to manu- facture a patent slipper, at Third and Walnut streets.
The Computing Appliance Company, organized to manufacture large vending machines, and now having the first consignment of machines assembled.
The American Tire Drill Company, 2916 Colerain avenue, manufacturing a special tool for drilling wheels of vehicles and automobiles.
In addition to the continuous campaign for new industries your directors have been active in many lines of endeavor for the city's welfare-matters corelated with the direct work. A committee of the bureau cooperated with committees from other organizations in raising a fund of $1,500 and procuring four oil paintings typical of the city for presentation to the Hamburg-American Steamship line as a testimonial to their new steamship "Cincinnati," named in honor of the city. The detailed work was taken care of in the office of the bureau, and two of the bureau committee went to New York to participate in the presentation ceremonies. The board also lent its support to the park improvement bond issue, and participated through its delegates in the Ohio River Improvement Association and National Rivers and Harbors Congress. It has been working actively and continuously for a pneumatic mail tube, and took the lead in a concerted movement to protest against the reported abandonment by the government of Fort Thomas as a military post, and otherwise cooper- ated in local improvements in behalf of the city.
Since its organization the bureau has influenced, directly and indirectly, the location in the Cincinnati industrial district, of approximately one hundred new industries, furnishing employment for six thousand men, and having a pay-roll of three million dollars a year.
During this same period the railroads centering here have doubled their depot and freight terminal facilities. The city's own road has razed half a dozen city blocks and expended two and a half million dollars for new depots and terminals. The Louisville & Nashville has partially completed improve- ments involving an outlay of four and a half millions. The Big Four at Sharon, the B. & O. at Brighton and Oakley, the Pennsylvania in the East End and the C. & O. on the western hills have spent millions for terminal expansion.
The board of education has spent in the same time nearly four millions for new school buildings-edifices that excel those of any American city for elegance and completeness.
Today our tubs and our basins are filled with water as clear as when it comes from the sky, and almost as pure. It is furnished by a modern and model waterworks, completed this decade at a cost of $12,000,000. Natural gas, an apparent impossibility of 1901, we are enjoying today at a cost ranging from eleven cents to thirty cents, and as a result our atmosphere is less smoky.
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And what of the less material things? From a standard subject to criti- cism, our educational system has been brought in this decade to the very first rank. Cincinnati is leading all American cities in educational innovations. Con- tinuation schools, schools for the defective, municipal play grounds, medical and dental inspection in the public schools, public bath houses, municipal lodg- ing house, municipal wash house, public comfort stations-all evidences of ad- vanced civic thought and all products of the past decade. And in the enumer- ation of the city's progress it must not be forgotten that to a Cincinnatian has been given the honor of presiding over the destinies of this great nation.
Cincinnati holds a higher place in the public mind today than she did ten years ago. In this advance the Industrial Bureau has certainly played a part.
THE INDUSTRIAL BUREAU.
The Cincinnati Industrial Bureau was organized in 1901. The period since that time has been one of remarkable progress for Cincinnati. The growth of manufacturing in the industrial district is reflected in the figures of the United States Census Bureau for 1905.
The manufacturing capital invested in the Cincinnati industrial district in- creased from $121,972,067 in 1900, to $170,769,226 in 1905, an increase of $48,- 797,159, or forty per cent.
The amount of money paid out in salaries increased from $7,170,868 to $10,929,512, an increase of $3,758,644 or 52.4 per cent.
The amount of money paid out in wages increased from $26,981,122 to $33,- 932,557, an increase of $6,951,435, or 25.8 per cent.
The amount of manufactured output increased from $164,217,216 to $203,- 095,605, an increase of $38,878,389, or 23.7 per cent.
In the nine years previous to 1901, the money invested in building construc- tion totaled $26,106,209.
In the nine years following 1900, the money invested in building construction totaled $57,786,355, or more than double the total of the previous nine years.
The bank clearings of Cincinnati increased from $972,502,000 in 1901, to $1,348,031,450 in 1909, an increase of $375,529,450.
The postoffice receipts have increased from $1,291,088.56 in 1900, to $2,298,- 581.71 in 1909, or an increase of more than one million dollars, or nearly one hundred per cent.
Not the only work of the Cincinnati Industrial Bureau has been the bring- ing of new manufacturing institutions to the city. It has been instrumental in locating a large number of branch business houses in Cincinnati. It has as- sisted local manufacturing concerns to find additional capital and aided in the formation of new companies. It has influenced many industries to give up plans to leave Cincinnati. Ranking equal in importance is the work which the bureau has done as the city's bureau of publicity.
Since the organization of the bureau thousands of letters and illustrated booklets advertising Cincinnati have been sent to all parts of the country. Spe- cial advertisements and reading articles have been placed in standard trade pub- lications. By the use of a special fund, articles advertising Cincinnati were placed in leading magazines, and the publication of a monthly magazine begun. This magazine goes to every United States consulate throughout the world. It
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has been read by manufacturers all over the United States. It goes regularly to a growing list of commercial organizations and town-development publications. It speaks for Cincinnati among the "live ones" in the ranks of the cities of this country.
The Industrial Bureau has had distributed literature at many large conven- tions, at the St. Louis World's Fair, at the Charleston Exposition, and in many other places. It is now undertaking to furnish a large list of newspapers with feature stories about Cincinnati, not handled by the regular news agencies. In short, the bureau has been the one constantly working press agent for Cincinnati.
Some of the industries which have located in the Cincinnati industrial district in recent years through the influence of the Industrial Bureau are the following :
American Cigar Co.
Austin Pressed Brick Co.
Automatic Printing Machine Co., consolidated with Cincinnati Time Re- corder Co.
Brunhoff Manufacturing Co.
Blackburn Varnish Co.
Cedar Rapids Pump Co., now Rich Bros. Pump Co.
Cincinnati Horseshoe and Iron Co.
Cincinnati Time Recorder Co.
Cincinnati Rubber Manufacturing Co.
Cincinnati Wire Bound Box Co.
Crown Iron Bed Manufacturing Co.
Cincinnati Steel Foundry Co.
Couch Bros. Manufacturing Co.
Dayton Folding Box Co.
Eagle Counter and Leather Co.
Elmwood Castings Co.
Globe Folding Box Co.
Geneva Optical Co.
Hogan & Co.
Hirsch Iron and Steel Rail Co.
Hudson & Co., A. A.
Maloney Shoe Co.
Ohio Dairy and Creamery Supply Co.
Ohio Bevel Gear Co.
Ohio Steam Shovel Co.
Phillemac Rolling Mill Co.
Queen City Paste Co.
Rebhun & Co.
Rock Island Battery Co.
Toledo Electric Welding Co.
Trees Manufacturing Co. (operating under new name).
United States Can Co.
In the spring of 1911, a trade excursion, "Boosters' Trip," was made into West Virginia by a joint committee of the Business Men's Club, Chamber of Com- merce, Advertising Club, and Commercial Association. They traveled eight hun-
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dred miles in West Virginia, Kentucky and southern Ohio to enhance the prestige of Cincinnati as a market. The Times-Star said :
"The trade excursion into West Virginia, the first given under the auspices of the Cincinnati Commercial Association, was successful from every standpoint. The Cincinnatians made a fine impression among the business people all along the route, and the social and business ties between Cincinnati and the towns visited were strengthened. On every side we heard expressions of admiration for the Queen City of the West and her people, and it was plain that the West Virginians would prefer to do business with Cincinnati if only Cincinnati were as active as other centers in developing the trade.
"The success of this trip has proven that Cincinnati business men should hold two trade excursions annually and should wage a systematic campaign for trade expansion. At the same time this would give Cincinnati capital opportu- nities for good investment. Cincinnati business men cannot do too much in the way of trade excursions, for their usefulness has been completely demonstrated."
This statement was made Saturday by Otto Armleder, one of the leaders in the West Virginia trade excursion, which came to a successful close shortly after midnight Friday, when the hundred excursionists came into the Central Union station after four busy days. The party made a veritable triumphal tour through West Virginia and Ohio, heralding the praises of Cincinnati in every town and hamlet. It was received with open arms everywhere. Probably the climax in the way of cordiality of reception came on the concluding day of the journey at Portsmouth, Ohio, where the trade excursionists were sumptuously feted and dined. In view of the great success of the initial excursion the trade boosters have concluded that these expeditions shall hereafter form an estab- lished part of the programme for advertising Cincinnati and her products. The route for the second trade excursion is already being discussed. A number have suggested a trip into the south, through Kentucky and Tennessee.
"This is only the first of a series of trade excursions to be given by the Cincinnati Commercial Association," said J. P. Orr, one of the leaders in the West Virginia tour. "The great success of the first venture indicates plainly that the business men of Cincinnati have a common duty in supporting these excursions, and the trip shows they are appreciating this fact. A new railroad is opening up for Cincinnati trade a large territory in the Carolinas. Perhaps it would be wise to visit that field next. At any rate, now that the excursion idea has been successfully tried further trips are in order."
One of the great plans in which Cincinnati is interested from a business point of view is the proposed new Union station.
A THIRTY MILLION DOLLAR TERMINAL.
By the passage at the recent session of the Ohio legislature of the Le-Blond bill permitting any five citizens to form a corporation for depot purposes and conferring the right of eminent domain for the construction of tracks leading into terminals, the way has at last been opened for carrying out a plan for a great Union station in Cincinnati to combine in one building all the railroad
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HEART OF CINCINNATI, 1910
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interests now represented in several stations and give this city one of the most magnificent terminals in the United States.
The passage of the bill has been awaited with great interest by a syndicate represented by John E. Bleekman, who came to Cincinnati from New York two years ago to work out the plan, and Archibald S. White, president of the Columbia Gas & Electric Co., and plans are now going rapidly ahead for the organization of the Cincinnati Union Depot & Terminal Company, which pro- poses to build a station and terminal system to cost thirty million dollars.
The plan contemplates not only the building of a Union station to accommo- date all the railroads entering Cincinnati, but it also proposes to furnish a mod- ern terminal for interurbans, and to give the city unexcelled freight facilities by the building of a new belt line and the utilization of present passenger tracks and stations for freight purposes exclusively, bringing in passenger trains over new tracks, on which all grade crossings will be eliminated. This will greatly shorten the time of all incoming passenger trains.
A combined station and office building to cost upwards of five million dol- lars is a striking feature of the plan. It is to occupy a site on the north side of Third street, between Elm and Broadway. The station building proper is to be fourteen stories in height with a tower twenty-two stories in height. The architectural effect is similar to that of the Metropolitan Life building in New York. This building will be in the very heart of downtown Cincinnati. Pas- sengers will approach trains through an arcade to be built on the level of Fourth street. The trains will enter the depot over an elevated concourse three hundred and nine feet wide and extending a thousand feet, east and west, on each side of the arcade. Train sheds are to be built on this concourse to cover fifteen tracks on each side, or thirty tracks in all. On its southern side the passenger tracks will be two stories above the street level. Underneath the passenger sheds will be tracks for freight cars, while the space beneath these will be util- ized for warehouse purposes. Space will be provided in the arcade for the ticket office while it is planned to give the various railroads office accommo- dations in the building. Four stories of the building are to be used for perma- nent manufacturing exhibit purposes.
"The psychological moment for the carrying out of this great enterprise in Cincinnati is at hand," said Mr. Bleekman in discussing the plans. "The money to carry out the project is available. It only remains to procure the consent of all the railroads to use the station. This would seem inevitable, for no other plan which has been proposed, or which possibly can be proposed, can com- pare with this for completeness of design for handling passenger, freight and interurban traffic. It presents the best possible solution of the economical problem confronting the railroads. No single road nor group of roads can well afford to build separate stations, and even if they should it would not improve freight facilities, which in an industrial city like Cincinnati is a vitally important consideration. Union depots do not usually increase revenue. The Cincinnati Terminal Railway Company, by embracing all the opportunities for revenue offered, has proposed to the railroads to handle their trains at a lower cost than is possible in separate stations, or in any union station project which has been proposed."
Vol. II-24
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A few years ago when it was proposed to build a belt line twenty-two miles in length, an investigation showed that the total interchange of freight business between the various roads in Cincinnati amounted to 1,788 cars a day. Deduct- ing cars that would be interchanged directly between the roads and cars for local delivery it was estimated that 741 cars would be handled by the belt line daily. The new terminal company proposes to construct a belt line eight miles in length with a capacity for the direct and convenient handling of 1,326 cars of interchange freight business a day. There would also be about one hundred cars handled daily through the warehouses at the union station. After the new terminal system is in operation it is expected that it will handle a large amount of freight to and from local shippers and industries. The interchange of freight can be largely augmented by the establishment of large assembling interchange yards. In addition to all this the space now occupied by the various passenger stations can be utilized for freight purposes. All of the present tracks can be used for freight twenty-four hours a day without interference from passenger traffic. This would give Cincinnati freight handling facilities unexcelled by any industrial center.
There are two hundred and seventy-six passenger trains received and dis- patched daily in the various railroad stations in Cincinnati. There are about 474 freight trains.
Coming into the new station from the north will be a new five track route, elevated from the waterworks reservoir, on a private right of way, with a low grade. While one of the plans heretofore considered calls for a tunnel twelve thousand feet in length, this new route will have but five hundred feet of tunnel. The working out of this feature is one of the big physical accomplishments of this plan. All the trains from the north can use this entrance, including the eight interurban traction lines now reaching the city, which will use two of the tracks. The plan contemplates that trains from the east, including the Penn- sylvania and the Louisville & Nashville, will approach the new station on inde- pendent elevated tracks. Trains entering the city from the west will approach the train sheds on a four track elevated structure.
The plans for the station building have been drawn to give it every utility of a modern passenger station. The arcade, flanked on either side by small stores and shops, will enter the main waiting room, which is of dignified and impressive design, with high vaulted ceiling and vaulted dome. Grouped around this waiting room will be all the features found in the latest designed buildings. Extending south from the main waiting room is the passenger concourse con- necting with the umbrella sheds and station platforms. The electric traction cars will approach the station from an eastern direction on elevated tracks passing through the building, discharging passengers at the umbrella sheds and taking on passengers within the building. The exterior and interior design of the building will be executed in the simple and severe style of the French Renais- sance, in brick, terra cotta and stone. The building proper will be 400 feet by 200 feet, the tower 90 by 100, the top being 500 feet above the street. The entire building will be fireproof, equipped throughout with every convenience known to modern office building construction.
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In explaining the plans of the Cincinnati Terminal Company, Mr. Bleekman pointed out the important bearing which the solution of the terminal problems of Cincinnati has upon the industrial future of the city.
After discussing Cincinnati's well known advantages from a manufacturing standpoint, and following a special mention of the Ohio river improvement, the prospectus of the company says in part :
"The completion of this work will bring an enormous increase of business to Cincinnati. With the enlargement of this canal (Miami and Erie) Cincinnati will have an all water route to the Atlantic seaboard and at this point coal and iron will meet under the most favorable economic conditions. Within 125 miles of Cincinnati in the state of Kentucky begins probably the largest coal field in America. The great market for this coal will be the west and northwest, and the only possible direct route from the coal of southeastern Kentucky, where the largest volume is located, is through Cincinnati. A recent survey has been made to this field and one-half of one per cent grade is feasible. Interests identified in the United States Steel Corporation recently ac- created in Cincinnati railroads will be built to the coal. The Cincinnati
quired very large tracts of this coal land. As soon as facilities are Terminal Railway Company will become the other important link in this chain of developments. . . . The completion of two hundred miles of railroad to southeastern Kentucky will develop another trunk line railroad from Cincinnati to Charleston, which has possibly the finest protected harbor on the Atlantic coast. As the crow flies, it is the shortest distance from Chicago to tidewater. . The completion of this road, together with the water line that has been surveyed to Louisville, cannot be overestimated in calculating the future of the city."
It is understood that the railroads are giving favorable consideration to the plan. A dispatch from New York printed in Cincinnati said that the plan had been approved by the board of directors of the Pennsylvania road. All of the roads appointed engineers to investigate the plan and are said to have reported favorably.
Under the former law union depot companies could be formed only by the presidents of railroad companies whose lines lead into a municipality. The Le- Blond bill permits any five persons to incorporate for this purpose and confers powers of eminent domain for the purpose of constructing overhead and under- ground track's leading into the terminals.
It is estimated that twenty million passengers will pass through the new union station every year. The interurban traction traffic will be largely in- creased by the better facilities offered.
MERCHANTS AND MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION.
The Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Cincinnati was organized in 1887, incorporated in 1893, for the purpose of advancing the interests of its members by all lawful methods and by continuous offers of legitimate induce- ments and attractions to encourage merchants to visit the city for commercial purposes.
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As an inducement to bring merchants or buyers to Cincinnati, they mail out invitations in which they offer to pay the railway fare of merchants provided they make their purchases from members of this association while in the city.
Through this method several thousand merchants are induced to visit the Cincinnati market twice a year and it is a very satisfactory arrangement, as it not only gives the buyers and the heads of the Cincinnati houses an oppor- tunity to become acquainted, but gives the buyers an opportunity to see and ex- amine full and complete lines before making purchases.
THE CINCINNATI BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH-ITS FIRST YEAR'S WORK.
Purpose: The purpose of the bureau is to conduct an entirely non-partisan study of the methods and work of the several departments of the city govern- ment, with a view to recommending such modifications and improvements as it believes to be of advantage, to do whatever it can to promote the efficiency and economy of municipal administration, and to furnish citizens with the facts of public business.
ORGANIZATION.
The Cincinnati Bureau of Municipal Research was organized in the spring qf 1909, through the cooperation of the Commercial Club, Optimist Club, Busi- ness Men's Club, City Club, and Chamber of Commerce. The trustees and or- ganization were as follows:
CHOSEN FROM
Joseph S. Neave, chairman. Business Men's Club.
J. G. Schmidlapp, treasurer. Chamber of Commerce.
Eldon R. James, secretary . City Club. William Worthington Commercial Club.
George W. Armstrong, Jr. . Optimist Club.
To conduct the work, the trustees secured from the New York bureau Mr. R. E. Miles as director, and Mr. F. R. Leach as associate director. The bureau began actual work on July 1, 1909, with its office in the Neave building.
During the year the bureau suffered the loss, through death, of Mr. Neave. To fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Neave, Mr. Otto Armleder was chosen, Mr. James being elected chairman.
METHOD.
The general method pursued by the bureau in making a study of a city department may be summarized as follows :
I. From the pay rolls and from conferences with the department officials, a schedule is drawn up showing the organization of the work and the working force. This schedule is submitted to the department for verification and cor- rection.
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